August 18, 2022 Knowledge Sharing Improves EHS Compliance Efficiencies

Luke Jacobs of Encamp discusses how knowledge sharing catalyzes cross-function between teams and enhances productivity.

By Luke Jacobs, Co-Founder and CEO, Encamp

Environment, health and safety (EHS) professionals in the manufacturing industry face the pressures of maintaining the environmental and safety health across their multiple facilities in compliance with highly-regulated standards on a daily basis. They have an integral role in reporting compliance, ensuring environmental health, and mitigating non-compliance risks across the entire business operations. From managing reporting deadlines and inventories for an infinite amount of chemicals to collecting environmental data for Tier II reports, and maintaining Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) compliance – when these tasks and data are scattered, it can feel like an impossible job for one or even a team of EHS professionals to handle.

The reality of environmental compliance is that it requires proactive planning and collaboration from the corporate back office to shop floor operations. Transforming and streamlining environmental compliance processes across the entire organization can relieve the otherwise heavy workload of an organization’s EHS professionals and contribute to overall productivity. This collaboration can also help business continuity through change management and ensure visible and trustworthy data. Time and energy invested with the help of knowledge sharing and compliance systems allows companies to operate more efficiently than ever.

Identifying barriers between efficient reporting & environmental compliance

Before a company dives into the solution of knowledge sharing, company leaders must understand the obstacles making environmental compliance difficult and how to better harness relevant information across different facilities.

Data silos

One of the most significant obstacles for EHS professionals is gathering accurate and timely compliance data. Scattershot data monitoring and collection across multiple facilities and different people taking over reporting tasks open the door to reporting errors and missed deadlines. Gartner reports that 94% of businesses believe the data they hold is inaccurate, believing that poor data quality is responsible for an average $15M per year in losses. Not only can accurate data be lost in different locations, but employers are also wasting valuable human capital in the time spent collecting them. The more background knowledge shared between groups, the more visibility there is, leading to trust in the data and its sources.

By utilizing technology, specifically a unified data system that centralizes all the environmental data for a specific program area, EHS professionals can have a “single source of truth,” eliminating the need to start over every reporting cycle and ensuring that they understand and trust the data they’re reporting.

EHS employee turnover

Without a centralized system for information, fulfilling environmental compliance reporting tasks can get complicated. Personnel in individual facility operations who monitor hazardous chemicals have an important role in capturing relevant and auditable data. If an employee decides to take another position or leaves the company, they take that valuable information with them. In an industry where high employee turnover is common, this means a non-standardized process because different people are constantly taking over the data collection and reporting tasks.

Establishing streamlined and standardized processes within environmental compliance programs is integral to knowledge sharing because it reduces switching costs and lost time due to employee turnover. New employees can step in and pick up the slack quickly.

Changing state and federal regulations

EHS professionals are regularly subject to the pressures of adhering to strict compliance to ever-changing and highly-regulated environmental laws. For example, the EPA can add new chemicals to its extremely hazardous substances (EHSs) list and alter threshold planning quantities (TPQs.) If companies don’t meet these new or updated requirements, they may fall into non-compliance and face financial penalties. TPQs limit the number of hazardous substances at a particular location to minimize the risk should an accident occur. To stay in compliance, companies must be aware of the hazardous chemicals onsite at a given time. Once identified, companies can determine if they exceed the stipulated TPQ for that particular material and keep audit-ready data on hand.

Knowledge is power

So, what’s the solution to overcoming these obstacles? Work smarter, not harder.

While this may seem to trivialize the issue, this clichè couldn’t be more accurate. EHS teams in a manufacturing setting should reconsider the way they approach data collection, especially as they experience high occurrences of growth and change management in their industry. It’s not sustainable to have siloed environmental data that is scattered across different locations. Empowering employees with constant collaboration and a single source of truth for environmental data allows for strategic decision-making and proactive compliance. This can save on non-compliance risks, people hours, and internal costs.

Connect with and educate the greater team

Once leaders understand the issues that contribute to an inefficient environmental compliance system, it’s time to sync with the greater team.

According to a Gallup report, only 44% of employees see how their individual goals connect to organizational goals. This statistic highlights a major opportunity for business leaders. When organizations empower EHS professionals to communicate with different teams across the organization, educate them on regulatory expectations and explain laws that impact their day-to-day work, they can naturally move the needle towards a more productive, compliant workplace. Alternatively, when business leaders allow non-EHS employees to learn more about regulatory requirements for environmental compliance and ask questions, they are more likely to invest in being part of the solution.

However, EHS employees can’t be the only ones prioritizing environmental compliance. Executive-level support and collaboration with EHS teams can compel employees to buy into new standards – creating a culture of knowledge-sharing within the organization.

Invest in tools that meet organizational needs

If the goal is to increase shared knowledge between EHS, production, and other teams such as accounting and purchasing, channels need to exist for this information exchange to take place. Organizations can incorporate technology to radically transform how EHS professionals (and other compliance stakeholders) collect and share knowledge by taking these steps.

• Consider what parts of the data collection and report compilation process can be standardized and automated. Streamline processes to simplify the year-to-year report-building process.
• Build work dashboards to keep a birds’ eye view of data. Dashboards that provide a 360° view of an organization can keep EHS teams and company executives up to date. 
• Implement EHS software that can eliminate menial, time-consuming tasks. Environmental management systems can relieve the load on EHS professionals and allow them to focus on more strategic initiatives.
• Challenge EHS professionals to advise on technology decisions. As different solutions are tried, leaning on these employees to weigh in ensures the money an organization invests in digital tools enhances the employee experience and overall productivity levels.

Ensure positive business and environmental outcomes

EHS technology is an investment but can help cut company costs over time. From a company culture standpoint, digital tools can play an important role in retention. International Data Corporation’s recent productivity study stated that companies with collaborative work environments see 30% less staff turnover and 30% higher productivity per employee.

Maintaining environmental compliance is essential to companies for reputational, legal and ethical reasons. Organizations that invest in their environmental teams and find digital tools that support organizational needs have undeniable benefits. Knowledge sharing creates a well-informed, positive culture that catalyzes more cross-function between teams and, in turn, delivers a more productive organization.

About the Author
Luke Jacobs is Encamp’s CEO and co-founded the enterprise technology company in November 2017. Prior to Encamp, he was an Environmental Scientist at GDH and a Research Associate III – Project Manager for Montana State University, a position funded through the National Science Foundation & U.S. Department of Energy and based in Bloomington, Indiana. As an advocate for the environment, Luke is an active researcher, writer and speaker on its behalf. He earned his B.S. in Environmental Science from Indiana University Bloomington, and also received a Certificate of Underwater Resource Management from IU. In 2020, Luke was included on the Environment + Energy Leader 100 list for his achievements in the environmental industry, and in 2021 was recognized in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2022 for Enterprise Technology. Luke also was appointed to Forbes’s prestigious Technology Council in 2021.

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